


One to Grow On

by itsfaberrytaboo (orphan_account)



Series: Wide Green Eyes [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Play, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Bigs and littles are known, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 05:45:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7301812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/itsfaberrytaboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And now there was to be a different party, a different sort of presents, and it made Maria nervous. She knew Natasha wanted a birthday party as a little, but this would be a complete surprise and Maria wasn’t sure how Natasha would take it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One to Grow On

**Author's Note:**

> Again, please do not send me your dental bills.
> 
> This contains ageplay. If you don't like ageplay, please move along.

One of the perks of being an agent of SHIELD, besides “traveling the world! And saving it at the same time! Hopefully…” was recess.

Downtime for the agents was something they considered precious, and, at least during Maria’s tenure as director, something she considered a necessity. The park she’d had installed behind the buildings that made up SHIELD’s headquarters was only a small part of her plan to help her fellow agents remember life beyond work. That there were other things besides battles with gods that mattered.

For the agents that were big, it was a chance to go sit at the picnic benches and eat lunch. To talk with their fellow team members and get to know each other. To let off steam about whatever was on their minds. Or to just put their head down and nap for fifteen blessed minutes before they got back to the drudgery of paperwork and monitoring.

For the littles… it was _recess_. It was a chance to clamber on the jungle gym, to go _up up and up_ on the swings, or to sit on the benches and share lunch with their mommies or uncles.

Directors before Maria had, for some reason or another, frowned on SHIELD agents entering relationships with other agents, but Maria found the whole thing to be ridiculous. And not just because she’d been matched with Natasha Romanoff, either. It wasn’t as if _any_ of them could choose who fate decided to bind them to. And she wasn’t about to make life any more difficult for her agents, the family that she felt responsible for.

So the littles got their recess. Their slides and their swings and the monkey bars. And the bigger agents, the caregivers, they got their time to sit and smile at the antics of the little boys and girls who ran around shouting excitedly at each other.

All of them, for a while, got to forget about what had fallen apart around them. About trying to maintain normalcy in an uncertain world. About being superheroes.

“Pepper, raise that banner up a bit.”

“Maria, if I raise it up any higher none of us are going to be able to see it,” Pepper huffed, nonetheless lifting the HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATASHA banner an inch more before tying it to the rafters of one of the picnic shelters.

“Mommy, don’t fall!” Tony called, perched worriedly at the bottom of the ladder Pepper was on, and she smiled down at him.

“I’m fine, baby boy, it’s all right.” She climbed gracefully down and patted his head. “Go play.”

“C’mon, Tony!” Steve said, standing near the merry-go-round. “I want to see how fast you can spin me.”

“Steve Rogers, if you get sick your uncle isn’t going to let you have any cake,” Maria said to him, but Steve only turned to her with an impish, dazzling grin, and she shook her head.

“Where are they, anyway?” she mumbled, checking her watch. “Sam should’ve been here a half hour ago.”

“Would you relax?” Laura said, tying the last of the bunch of balloons to a weight tightly wrapped in bright foil, and setting it in the middle of the picnic table. A mound of presents in soft hues of yellow and pink was stacked next to the cake, which was frosted in the same colors.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and Maria, Pepper, and Laura had spent the last two hours decorating the playground with balloons and streamers while Steve, Clint, and Tony played, and Sam kept Natasha occupied at his apartment until it was time.

Only now it was past time, and Maria was anxious enough.

“He’ll get here when he gets here. And you know Natasha is going to love it. Just like she loved yesterday.”

Maria grinned softly to herself, thinking about how surprised her girlfriend had been at the birthday party she had arranged at their apartment. That entire day had been fun, watching Natasha’s eyes widen every time she’d walked down the hall in headquarters and someone had shouted “Happy birthday!” at her in passing. The Avengers had all been there, coordinating their intel from one of their last missions, and Maria knew she’d been right in telling them all that it was Natasha’s birthday. Maria was pretty sure she’d seen tears shining in Natasha’s eyes as her girlfriend and her friends all sat around her in the living room, drinking and joking with each other while the Black Widow opened up what were probably the first birthday presents she’d ever gotten.

Steve’s framed photos of vintage New York (that were probably his own pictures, Maria thought) had been the biggest hit, but Natasha loved all of her gifts, even Sam’s simple gift certificate that he’d tucked into a card. Maria could make out the terse handwriting of a rather long note on the card, but whatever it was that inspired Natasha to throw her arms around Sam in a tight hug, Maria didn’t ask to read them. Those words were for Natasha, and she didn’t need to know. It was enough to know that everyone loved Natasha.

Maria’s own gifts to Natasha were later, when they were alone. There were the ordinary, regular presents, the coupley type that they’d never really given each other. But Natasha smiled at the flowers, shared a chocolate or two with Maria, gasped softly at the ticket showing reservations next week to one of the most exclusive restaurants in town.

Then they “took the celebration to bed,” as Maria had cheekily suggested to Natasha, and tugged her down the hall. With every kiss of her lips, every gentle (and maybe not so gentle) touch over Natasha’s skin, Maria tried to spell out to Natasha just how much of a gift _she_ was, how grateful Maria was that Natasha had been born, and in between the sighs and the moans of pleasure Maria promised Natasha that every birthday would be like this. Every year, Maria swore, Natasha would know how special she was. Not just on her birthday, but every day.

She waited until Natasha was sated, panting and sweating with her hair splayed out in a red halo against the pillows, before bringing out her last gift, and fastening it around Natasha’s neck. It was a silver chain, long enough that the pendant of a filigreed _M_ with its tiny red stones could lay between Natasha’s breasts and under her shirts or tac suit.

“M for Maria,” she whispered softly, kissing Natasha and holding her close. “M for Maria, M for mama, M for mine.”

“Always yours,” Natasha answered, just before she flipped Maria over, intent on returning the (multiple) favors she’d been given.

And now there was to be a different party, a different sort of presents, and it made Maria nervous. She knew Natasha wanted a birthday party as a little, but this would be a complete surprise and Maria wasn’t sure how Natasha would take it. She’d been reluctant enough to stay with Sam for a while, suspicious as always.

But, Maria reasoned with herself, at least it would only be the nine of them. Natasha and Maria’s closest friends. The family that Natasha was comfortable being herself around, whether big or as small as she would allow herself to be.

Maria’s phone vibrated; she took it out and glanced at the text message.

_Almost there. Not little yet. Might need help? -Sam._

Maria frowned and pocketed her phone, glancing up when she heard Sam’s car pulling onto the gravel that led to the playground.

“Everything finished?” she asked Laura and Pepper.

“Would you go on?” Pepper said with a roll of her eyes.

Maria grinned and walked up to Sam’s car as it parked.

“Hey, what’s up, Hill?” He greeted her, climbing out of the driver’s side.

“Hey, Sam. Thanks for keeping Natasha for a while.”

“Uncle Sam! Uncle Sam! I can hang upside down, look!”

“If you get sick you’re not getting any cake,” Sam said, starting off to the monkey bars, and Maria snorted.

She walked around to the passenger side and opened it, kneeling down, ignoring the bite of gravel into her knees.

“There’s my baby bunny,” she said easily, smiling at Natasha.

She might have been wearing a pink gingham dress with her red hair pulled back from her face with two little pink barrettes in the shape of bows, but Natasha Romanoff otherwise did not look little at all. She clearly wasn’t in her headspace yet, as she regarded Maria with all the calculation of a spy.

“What’s going on?”

Maria stood up and brushed off her knees, then extended her hand to Natasha. “Why don’t you come see, sweetheart? I think you’ll like it.”

Natasha hesitated, then slipped her hand into Maria’s and allowed herself to be pulled from the car.

“Come here, first,” Maria said, moving to take Natasha into her arms.

She was almost there, Maria thought, judging by the way her girlfriend melted into her, tucking her head against Maria’s heart, with her arms around Maria’s waist gripping tightly. This was the best way for Maria to let Natasha know that it was okay for her to be little: with a simple hug. Natasha Romanoff as an agent and Maria’s girlfriend might sometimes be reticent with her affection; she wasn’t that used to it, after all.

But Nat as a little and as Maria’s baby bunny… she was a cuddler. She loved nothing more than being on her mama’s lap, being rocked or just held. Natasha was in the headspace of a two-year-old when she was little, and Maria didn’t usually let her out of her sight. And Natasha was just fine with that. She was never more content than when she was sitting at Maria’s feet playing, or curled up letting Maria snuggle her and pet her hair. So there was usually nothing more elaborate than a gentle hug, when Natasha was ready to let herself be little.

“Everybody’s here today,” Maria said, kissing the top of Natasha’s head. “Let’s go say hi.”

“Nat, look at you!” Pepper said, and Maria smiled at her gratefully. “I love that dress, you look adorable.”

Natasha didn’t answer; her eyes were glued to the pink and yellow banner that hung down. Maria watched as her gaze darted from the banner to the balloons, to the presents and the cake, and finally, to the little boys that dangled from the monkey bars, to Clint who was precariously on top of the jungle gym pretending to shoot enemy foes.

“Happy birthday, Nat,” Laura said gently, coming over and resting a hand on Natasha’s shoulder, before moving to the edge of the jungle gym and simply standing there, staring up at Clint with her hands on her hips.

Clint grinned sheepishly and climbed down.

“Mama?”

Ah, there it was. Maria led Nat over to the picnic table and sat down on the bench, so that she was stood between her knees.

“Yes, my baby bunny.”

“This… this for me?”

One finger had found its way to Nat’s mouth; Maria pulled it away before she could start chewing and popped the little yellow pacifier with its brown bunny into her lips.

“It’s your birthday, isn’t it?”

Nat nodded after a moment.

“And you wanted a birthday party, right? With toys and balloons and a cake.”

Another nod, more vigorously this time.

“Well, then I think all of this is for you, bunny.”

Nat shuffled forward and wrapped her arms around Maria again, burying her face in Maria’s neck.

“Thank you, Mama,” she mumbled, and Maria squeezed her close.

“What do you want to do first?” she asked, rubbing Nat’s back. “No cake yet,” she hastened to add, and laughed a little when she could _feel_ Nat’s pout. “You have to eat a hamburger or hot dog before cake, do you want to go play while Uncle Sam cooks them?”

Nat drew back, her eyes lit up with excitement. “I can go play?”

“You can go play,” Maria said, turning Nat and giving her a light push. “Go have as much fun as you want, sweetheart.”

In short order Nat was all over the playground, squealing and laughing, and Maria couldn’t help but smile.

“Thanks for coming,” she said to Pepper when the other woman sat down next to her and handed Maria a drink.

“Thanks for inviting us,” Pepper replied. “Tony needed to relax, it’s been a rough week.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that.” Maria fiddled with the cap to her beer.

“You don’t have to do that, you know.”

“Do what?”

“Apologize all the time,” Laura said. Ever the mother, she was still unpacking paper plates and chips, keeping napkins from being blown away by the wind.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Maria, but Laura and I have been with Clint and Tony before you were director. We know what being an Avenger means. Besides, when I said rough week I meant Tony spent every day this week in the corner. He can be a real brat sometimes.”

“Yeah, I find that _real hard_ to believe,” Sam said, flipping the burgers onto the portable grill he’d brought.

“You think Tony can be a brat?” Laura laughed. “Try dealing with Mr. Barton over there when he gets in one of his moods. Two days ago I took his video games away from him for an hour. Just an hour. You would’ve thought the world was ending.”

“Not that I know of,” Maria joked. “But guess what Nat did last week.”

“I’m afraid to ask.”

“She does this whole ‘ew, vegetables, yuck’ thing when she’s little. Even though I _know_ she likes them. So one morning last week I notice this funky smell in the kitchen. Night before I _thought_ she’d eaten her broccoli. But she’d shoved it all into a drawer when I went to the bathroom.”

Maria shook her head as her other friends collapsed into laughter. “The little princess sits on the naughty stool like it’s her throne. I swear she acts like I’ve committed a crime every time I punish her.”

“At least you can swat her a time or two,” Sam said, gesturing at Maria with a spatula. “You try coming up with effective punishments for someone who’s enhanced.”

“Oh, surely Steve doesn’t act out,” Laura said, with a knowing eyebrow in Sam’s direction, and his grin broadened.

“He’s a good kid, but he’s learning to test the waters. Trying to see how far he can push before I stop giving in to that smile of his. I tried to put him in the corner. Found him five minutes later on the roof. But you know what works?”

“What?” Maria asked.

“Sitting at the kitchen table. ‘I will listen to Uncle Sam,’ one hundred times on paper, with a pencil. He has to erase and rewrite every mistake until each line is perfect. He hates it.”

“Ooh, that’s harsh,” Maria said. “But at least he’s old enough that he can do that. I never know what works with Nat. I can’t send her to her room because the first time I did she freaked out. Thought I was going to just… leave her there.”

Maria sighed. “I was an idiot.”

“Hey,” Pepper said, nudging her. “You made a mistake. We’ve all done that.”

“Right, sure.”

“No, really,” Laura agreed with Pepper. “One time I – Clint Barton, no, you may _not_ jump from the swings to the monkey bars!” She shook her head, then went on.

“One time I thought Clint was so cranky because he was just being bratty. I thought he was testing me. So I put him in the corner, walked away for a minute. The next thing I know, he was sick everywhere. I felt horrible.”

Maria reached out and patted Laura’s arm sympathetically.

“Tony always has a bad time around Father’s Day. That first one we were together, he wouldn’t tell me and I had no idea what was going on. So when he pushed my buttons one too many times, I lashed out. First and only time I’ve ever yelled at him.”

“Can I get in on this discussion?” came another voice, and Maria jumped up in surprise.

“Bobbi! You made it!” They hadn’t been able to come to the other party, last night, so Maria was glad that they were able to come to the picnic. Plus, she had a sneaking suspicion it might mean a little bit more, to Natasha, that they were here while she was little.

“Better a bit late than never, I guess.” She smiled and deposited a wrapped present onto the top of the pile, then looked to the small girl at her side, clad in overalls.

“Hey, Jemma!” Maria greeted her, and Jemma rushed forward for a hug.

“Hi Auntie! Can I go play?”

“Go play,” Bobbi said, smiling as the little girl ran off.

Maria heard Nat exclaim at the arrival of her newest friend, and Maria grinned.

“Okay, let’s hear it. Worst thing Jemma’s done. I can’t imagine it’s been that bad.”

“I think she’s the only little in existence who likes rules,” Bobbi said, sitting on the picnic table and happily accepting a beer from Sam. “I think the worst thing she’s ever done is slap that guy at the carnival.”

“She slapped a guy?” Pepper said in disbelief.

“He stole Nat’s cotton candy,” Maria huffed.

“Maybe, but I don’t want Jemma thinking that’s the way to solve problems. Even if it was a pretty effective way.”

“Admit it, you were impressed.”

“Hell yeah, I was,” Bobbi said with a grin.

“Okay, worst thing _you’ve_ ever done,” Maria challenged.

Bobbi made a face. “Do I have to?”

“Well, no, you don’t,” Laura said. “The rest of us have, but of course you don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.”

Bobbi shrugged, looking off to the playground, at Jemma who was currently squatting in the sandbox with Natasha, patting sand into some semblance of a castle. Almost as if she sensed her mummy looking at her, Jemma glanced up and met Bobbi’s eyes, giving her a beaming smile. Bobbi waved at her with a bit of a laugh, then turned back to her friends.

“We had trouble at first,” she said quietly. “We didn’t really bond during the best of circumstances.”

“Yeah, that was my – ow!”

Maria grabbed her arm, rubbing the area where Pepper had smacked it and glaring at her in reproach.

“I vote that every time Maria apologizes for our lives, one of us smacks her.”

“I’m not really in favor of violence,” Laura mused, “but honestly, Maria, enough is enough.”

“All right, fine,” Maria huffed. “I’ll try to stop.”

“As I was saying,” Bobbi continued pointedly, giving Maria a wink, “Bonding with someone pretending to be a HYDRA agent while pretending to be a HYDRA agent isn’t… well, it isn’t what I would’ve chosen for romance. Jemma went through a day or two where she thought she was in love with a Nazi, and _I’ve_ had to deal with the guilt that I had to lie to her for a little bit. So one night we argued about what we were going to have for dinner, I think. Jemma ended up spanked and I ended up with a little girl on my lap crying and telling me how scared she’d been when we first _bonded_. I felt like shit.”

“Man, you guys are horrible mommies,” Sam teased. Bobbie snorted and raised her beer at him, grateful for the moment of levity.

He turned his attention for a moment back to the food he was cooking, seemingly in thought. “I haven’t done anything yet with Steve, but I guess it’s gonna happen eventually.”

“You’ll be fine when it does,” Maria said. “Everybody makes mistakes.”

“Listen to that, Pepper, she _can_ be taught.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Maria said, rolling her eyes at Laura, but then was distracted from a happy voice that called to her from the playground.

“Mama! Mama, come play?”

Nat was now hovering by the swings, looking at her hopefully, and something about those sparkling baby green eyes made Maria helpless to resist. It was Nat’s birthday, after all.

“I think you’re the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Maria said as she walked up to the swings, taking out her phone to snap a quick picture. “Hop on, bunny. How’d I get to be such a lucky mama?”

“’cause you love me?”

“Oh, I do,” Maria agreed. “I don’t think you realize just how much.”

“Push, Mama!”

“Okay, okay, little miss impatient.” She positioned herself behind Natasha, who glanced over at her shoulder with the happiest smile on her face that melted Maria’s heart. This had been her best idea so far, she thought.

She wasn’t sure how she’d top it, but she was still going to try.

She began to push her slowly, smiling at the sound of Natasha’s excitement and rolling her eyes when her little girl soon demanded to go faster and higher. It was against her better judgment, but weren’t the kids supposed to get whatever they wanted on their birthdays?

… probably not, because giving Natasha whatever she wanted would lead to the little girl going ever higher, almost as if she could touch the sky, then suddenly letting go of the chains and executing a perfect flip off of the swing, head over heels and landing triumphantly on her feet.

Maria’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she heard Steve quietly murmur, “Whoa.”

“Mommy? Can I d—“

“Absolutely not,” came Pepper’s firm answer.

Natasha was smirking, looking fully _not_ like a little girl, right up until the second Maria marched over to her and grasped her hand, leading her to the merry-go-round and pointing.

“Sit,” she said sternly.

Natasha sat immediately, color flooding her cheeks, and she began to toy with the skirt of her dress. Maria knelt down so that Natasha was forced to look into her eyes.

“How old are you?”

Natasha hesitated, then lifted two fingers.

“Mm-hm. Two. And are two year olds supposed to do flips off the swing?”

Natasha shook her head. “I sorry, Mama.”

“You could get hurt.”

Realistically, of course she couldn’t. She was the _Black Widow_ , for heaven’s sake. She could do flips in her sleep. She’d done them off _buildings_. But Maria knew that if Natasha was going to continue being comfortable with her smaller side, then she’d have to be consistent.

“I sorry, Mama.”

Maria sighed and ran her fingers through Natasha’s curls, smiling a little when the baby nuzzled herself into Maria’s palm.

“Sit here for a few minutes, all right? Just so you can think.”

She didn’t like punishing Natasha on her birthday, and really, it was such a minor infraction from her girlfriend, who honestly just sometimes couldn’t control how easily she slipped in between her states. But Natasha still nodded with adorably sad eyes, and Maria nodded herself, stepping away just a little.

She was aware of all eyes on her, since the other littles always seemed to notice when one of their gang was in trouble.

Maria tilted her head. She then pressed her finger to her lips, and motioned to Jemma, Tony, Clint, and Steve in turn. They approached her with trepidation at first, then a little more eagerly – yet still quietly – when she winked at them.

She pointed to the merry-go-round with her other hand, still with her finger to her lips, and watched with amusement as the little boys and girl placed themselves ever so gently on the platform. Natasha, for her part, was obviously really thinking about things and didn’t even notice.

Maria had to fight off a laugh when Pepper, Laura, and even Sam then took their own places outside the platform, a hand each on the bars.

Maria waggled her eyebrows, then grabbed one of the bars herself.

“One, two, three, go!” she said, and then it was a whirlwind of giggling littles and laughing caregivers as they went ‘round and ‘round, and Maria jumped onto the platform next to her baby girl, who was squealing breathlessly.

“How fast do you think we’re going, bunny?"

“Lot fast, mama, lot fast!” Natasha giggled, holding on for dear life.

Gradually they slowed down, and Maria smiled, watching the boys and Jemma tumble off and head for various places on the playground with their caregivers: Jemma for the slide, Tony and Clint to the tetherball, and Steve joined Sam at the grill to help him finish up the food.

She felt a tug at her pants, and Maria looked to Natasha.

“Up, mama?” she asked. “I dizzy.”

“Oh, no, a dizzy bunny,” Maria said, scooping her up. “We can’t have that, can we?”

“Nuh-uh.” Natasha pressed her face into Maria’s neck. “Mama not really mad?”

“Mama wasn’t happy,” Maria said, gently rubbing her back. “But I’m not mad, baby. I promise.”

“’Kay.”

Maria bounced Natasha a little, smiling when she heard the slight rustle of the little girl’s diaper under her dress. She’d bet money on Natasha needing changed, so Maria headed first to the picnic table to grab her bag, then to the bathroom.

By the time they were finished the food was being plated up and Maria’s own stomach was growling. Sam had pulled out all the stops with hamburgers, hot dogs, all the toppings, and probably five different kinds of chips.

“What’s my baby want to eat?” Maria asked, and Natasha considered it for a moment.

“Everything,” she decided, and Maria laughed.

“Okay, well, I want a hamburger, so how about you have one too, and I know you like barbecue chips. If you’re still hungry after that you can have something else.”

“Okay!”

It was interesting, Maria thought, watching them all around the picnic table. Technically, Steve, Clint, and Jemma were “big” enough to handle lunch on their own. And Steve and Clint did, but Jemma and Bobbi’s dynamic seemed such that Jemma never really wanted to be away from Bobbi’s side. So Bobbi didn’t necessarily feed her, but there was a bit of “Now try this” and “Eat that first” that Maria found endearing.

As for Natasha, it varied. On days when she was feeling particularly clingy, nothing else would do but for Maria to feed her, and afterwards to snuggle her up in her arms with a bottle. But on other days, Natasha was perfectly content just to have Maria cut up her food, and occasionally feed her a bite or two. Maria wasn’t sure which days she preferred; any of them seemed to be amazing, considering that months ago she never would’ve dreamed she’d have any sort of loving relationship with anyone, much less _Natasha Romanoff_.

Who knew a ketchup-smeared face could be so adorable, really?

“Is it time for cake yet?” Tony finally said, and an excited gasp went up from all of the littles around the picnic table, especially Natasha.

“Mama! Mama say cake after I eat, I eat! Cake now!”

“Oh, no,” Maria said with a shake of her head, grinning at Natasha. “Little girls don’t get cake until they have something else first.”

Natasha regarded her suspiciously. “What?”

Maria leaned forward and nuzzled her nose to Natasha’s.  “Time for your birthday spanking, little bunny.”

“Oh, lord, here we go,” Laura said with a chuckle.

“Natasha gets a spaaaanking,” Tony sang out, and the little girl’s face scrunched in confusion.

“But… I not bad girl,” she said, with a bit of alarm in her voice, and Maria hastened to hug her.

“Of course you’re not,” she reassured, kissing her forehead. “But this is different. Little boys and girls always get birthday spankings. Right, guys?”

“I’m too old for that,” Steve said, and Clint echoed his agreement.

“Yeah, you just think you are, big man,” Sam teased, and Steve’s eyes widened.

“You just wait till your birthday next month.”

“Is he going to smack him ninety-five times?” Bobbi whispered to Pepper, and Maria had to fight off a laugh.

“Okay,” she said to Natasha, who was still looking at her with mistrust. “You ready for the traditional spanking of the birthday girl?”

She wouldn’t do it if Natasha actually said no. Physical punishment was only something they did rarely, and it usually caused such a visceral reaction in Natasha that Maria was hesitant even when the situation called for it. But she wanted Natasha to have a real birthday, something with fun and a little silliness, so she was relieved when finally, Natasha nodded – even if it was still a little reluctant.

“Okay, guys,” Maria said, bending Natasha slightly over her lap. “Count with me, okay? One!”

“One!” they all shouted, and Maria shook her head when she saw Natasha’s eyes squeeze shut, just before Maria raised her hand high, and then brought it down with the lightest, easiest pat on Natasha’s diapered rear end.

“That’s one,” she said merrily, tickling the back of Natasha’s neck until the little girl giggled and squirmed. “Ready? Two!”

“Two!”

She “smacked” Natasha again, following it up with another tickle. The baby’s eyes were open now, bright and shiny, and Maria kissed the top of her head.

“Should I give her one to grow on?”

“Yes!”

“Yeah!”

“One to grow on, Nat!”

“All right, then, one to grow on!” She raised her hand again, then gave Natasha one last, barely-there pat, before righting the little girl on her feet. Natasha was still giggling, wrapping her arms around Maria’s neck and hugging her.

“There!” Maria said, “Now it’s officially time for cake. Happy birthday, bunny!”

“Happy birthday, Natasha!”

The littles crowded around Natasha and Laura as she cut the cake into pieces and handed them out; Sam wandered over to stand at Maria’s side and watch.

“You know, you’re a dork.”

“You know, you can be reassigned to our base in Siberia.”

Sam laughed. “I’m just sayin’, it looks good on you. You’re happy, and so’s she. It kind of gives me hope that things won’t always be awkward.”

Maria smiled. “Relationships are always awkward, Sam. But,” she turned to look at him, then at Natasha, who had foregone utensils to shove cake in her mouth with her hand. “She makes it all worth it. And I know Steve does too.”

“Yeah. Yeah, he sure does.”

“Now who’s the dork?”

Sam shoved her in the direction of the picnic table and she laughingly obliged, going to join her now extremely messy baby girl.

Then it was time for presents, and Maria was distracted by Tony dancing nervously around Pepper.

“Ours first?” he nudged her with a stage whisper. “Mommy, ours _first_.”

“Tony, be patient,” Pepper admonished. “Natasha can open whichever one she wants to first.”

“She wants to open _ours first_ ,” Tony said, a grumpy look crossing over his face.

Crisis aversion time, Maria thought. “Natasha, I think Tony must have a big surprise for you, what do you think?”

His eyes lit up. “Over here, Nat, over here!”

Maria wondered how she hadn’t noticed it, tucked a little in the back of the picnic shelter and covered over with a quilt in yellow and white. It was huge, and Maria gasped when Natasha pulled the quilt off and revealed a stunning rocking chair like the one that Laura and Clint had on the farm, just perfect for Natasha and Maria to snuggle into at the end of a hard day.

“I mades it,” Tony said proudly. “Mommy helped pick out blankie, you can have that too.”

“Mama, look!” Natasha said, her eyes wide, and Maria immediately sat into the rocker and held out her arms. Natasha climbed onto her lap, and sighed happily, nestling in.

“This is perfect,” Maria said, reaching out to ruffle Tony’s hair. “Tony, this is amazing, thank you so much! Nat, what do we say to Tony and Pepper?”

“Thank you! And thank you for blankie, it soft.”

“Will you open mine next?” Steve asked politely, and Maria caught Sam’s grin and returned it.

He was such a sweet little boy, obviously still nervous about himself, and it was completely adorable.

“Here, Nat, let me just move so you—“

Maria moved to get up, intent on letting Natasha sit on her “throne” and open her gifts, but was stopped by Natasha pushing against her and holding fast.

“Mama stay,” she said stubbornly.

Maria settled back down, seeing as how there was no choice in the matter, holding Natasha around the waist as the little girl tore into Steve’s gift.

It was a little wooden train set, completely vintage by the looks of it. Blocky and big, painted in merry shades of blue and red, it was perfect, and Maria could tell that Natasha was in love with it.

“Thanks, Steve!"

Then came one of the first of many presents from Maria, a new play outfit in shades of purple and green, and Natasha seemed to love it just as much as she had the rocking chair and the toy. Maria still had that uncertainty, that Natasha wouldn’t like the things she bought for her, but other than a misjudgment or two, everything Maria had bought for her thus far in their relationship had been spot-on.

Jemma’s toy was a doll, a soft, chunky baby with a toothy grin that Maria just _knew_ would be replacing Yulia as Natasha’s favorite. (Poor Yulia.) She rocked Natasha a little, commenting along with her little girl on the doll’s dress, and what her name would be.

Darya, it was decided, and Natasha put her aside “jus’ little while, baby” with a kiss to the top of her head.

Clint’s gift of four huge coloring books was a hit, as was the box of fat, easy-to-hold crayons to go along with them. Natasha wanted to get started on them right away, but she had more gifts, Maria reminded her.

The remaining ones were all from her, and her nervousness about them slipped away little by little as Natasha opened up and squealed over each box of Lego; yet another new set of pajamas; colorful plastic bracelets, a set of Avengers action figures that Maria was still surprised were being made, much less bought; a little boy doll that was named Stepan, and proclaimed to be Darya’s big brother; a stuffed lamb that Natasha cooed over and would not let go of; five picture books; and, lastly, the second biggest gift of the day: a dollhouse that had two “floors” and plenty of rooms. Maria promised she would take Natasha to the toy store later next week and get her a few things to start filling the dollhouse up.

Maybe she’d gone a bit overboard, she thought. But she knew Natasha, when she was _actually_ little, had never had anything. Never mind that she’d never had a birthday, she’d never had toys or books or anything that she could really call her own. Maria was determined to make up for it, whenever she could.

“Hey, there’s still a box,” Clint said, and Maria grinned.

“So there is,” she said. “Hand it here, will you, buddy?”

It was a flat box, resembling one that could possibly hold chocolates, but it didn’t. Natasha had had enough sugar that day, after all. Maria figured there’d be a lot of littles resisting bedtime later on that evening because of it.

“Here you go,” Maria said, lightly pulling the stuffed lamb out of Natasha’s arms and handing her the box. “Last one, baby. I hope you like it.”

Natasha opened it slowly, finally pulling off the top of the box to reveal a picture.

“What’s that?” Jemma asked. “It’s pretty.”

“I know!” Natasha exclaimed. “This house Mama and I saw! I liked it.”

It was a house just on the outside of town, far enough outside that it was surrounded by green grass and trees, and other houses that made up a perfect picture of suburbia. Still, it was close enough to the city that anyone could get to work in minutes.

There were three bedrooms, one that could be turned into an office for any discerning SHIELD director, and another that could be painted a soft shade of yellow and decorated with toys and a dollhouse, and a rocking chair just the right size for a little girl and her mama. Downstairs was a gorgeous kitchen, with ample room for the fabulous coffee machine Tony had somehow invented himself, and given to Natasha _yesterday_ for her birthday; and a living room with huge windows, yet plenty of wall space for pictures of vintage New York. They could buy bedding with the gift certificate from Sam, or towels to hang in either of the two bathrooms, or… whatever Natasha wanted.

“Do you know what this really is?” Maria asked softly, resting her chin on Natasha’s shoulder, and brushing her fingers over the picture.

“I just said, is house, Mama.”

Maria smiled, and kissed Natasha’s cheek. “Baby, this is… _our_ house.”

She’d made the offer last week, which Natasha knew. What she hadn’t known was that Maria had closed on it two days ago, and had wrestled with whether to give the news to Natasha when she was big, during her regular birthday, or today, when she was little.

She finally decided that it didn’t really matter, as long as Natasha was happy.

As long as Natasha understood that this was their life, beginning together in a new chapter. The promise of a new home, Maria’s promise that despite what she used to think about herself, not only was Natasha meant to be hers, but Natasha was who Maria _wanted_.

It was so quiet for a moment that all that could be heard was the wind rushing through the trees, and birds chirping in the waning afternoon. Then Natasha shifted in her lap to look at Maria with wide, hopeful eyes.

“Our house?” she said. “Is… is my house with Mama?”

Maria nodded, and hugged her. “This is your house with Mama.”

“We… we got house,” Natasha said slowly, then actually _clapped_ her hands together excitedly. “We got house! We move in house!”

Maria laughed. “Not right now,” she said, “We have to wait for the movers to be ready.” She shared a wink with Sam and the other boys.

“This is all I wanted,” Natasha said then, not sounding small at all, and with a little catch in her voice.

It was what Natasha wanted, too. Best of all, Maria knew, Natasha wanted _her_.

“Well, I guess I can give all of your other presents back,” Maria teased, and Natasha shoved at her.

“Mine,” she said stubbornly, then gripped at Maria’s shirt as always, just over her heart.

“Mine,” she said again, and Maria nodded, kissing her forehead.

“Yours, bunny.”

She glanced at her friends, all of them, big and small, sat together around her and Natasha. Her family.

She remembered days as a little girl, fixing her own sandwiches and milk a couple days out of date already, picking out her own clothes that were either too small or too big but never just right, and trudging off to school alone. She remembered birthdays with a used toy probably hastily picked out at a Goodwill, birthdays with no cake and always a reminder that she had this day but someone else more important had died.

She remembered thinking she was supposed to be little, that she wanted more than anything to be held and rocked and loved.

But around her was her team, Steve against Sam’s side with Sam’s arm thrown around the boy’s broad shoulders. Tony listing a little sleepily against Pepper, and Jemma chattering quietly with Bobbi about whether or not they could take some cake home with them. And Laura, sweet Laura, cleaning up after the rest of them with Clint following close behind.

They loved her, supported her, and Maria loved and supported them in return. Her team. Her family.

But most of all, Maria sat in the chair with Natasha in her arms, rocking her and chuckling at how Natasha was trying to wrangle holding her stuffed lamb, Darya, _and_ Stepan at the same time. She rested her cheek against Maria’s heart, the picture of their new house clutched tightly in one hand.

And the memories of being a lonely little girl, and the fear that she was always going to be that lonely little girl, faded away when Natasha tipped up and whispered “Love you, Mama,” into Maria’s ear, and she smiled.

“I love you too.”

 _Happy birthday_.


End file.
